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My forehead creased at Vaughn’s rather distasteful change of subject. “Sorry?”
“Paris and Elio. You could be in one of those mortal soap operas on the television. Forced to choose between siblings, while both of them are pregnant with your baby.”
“Pregnant?”
“Forget the pregnancy part.” He cracked his knuckles. “But how do you feel about that?”
“About being on a mortal soap opera, or the fact that I have slept with both brothers?”
He cocked a severe eyebrow. “You don’t need to say it so robotically.”
“This conversation ends here.”
He shrugged. “I’m only playing.”
“Please contain yourself. Don’t cross any lines.”
He rolled his eyes. “If you say so, my king. My apologies.”
Talking about this had lifted his sadness slightly. Now it came crashing back down.
“This is so fucking depressing,” he wheezed. “I can’t stand it.”
“A little confused,” I responded.
He cocked his eyebrow. “About what?”
“Sleeping with both brothers.”
A smile crept to his lips. “I see. I won’t ask you to rate them,” he said, followed by a mischievous wink.
He walked the very dangerous line of irritating me. “Now that would be incredibly distasteful. However, I will say, despite recent events, Elio is a wonderful thrall. I will always appreciate his loyalty. But I love Paris.”
Admitting that to him seemed beyond monumental.
His smile died. “You love him? As in, truly love him?”
He didn’t know about the Knife of Fractured Rapture yet. So I told him, ending with, “We can discuss this properly later.”
Vaughn pressed a hand against the wall, leaning on it for support. “Silvanus…”
“Sorry to have shocked you.”
“No, it’s… I don’t know what to say.”
The first vampires began to arrive, along with Medusa, who’d immediately gone off to freshen up and have a moment of space.
“Later,” I stressed to my friend.
He nodded, pushing off the wall to greet the arrivals. They all bowed, and I offered them my love and my determination to lead them into a better future.
We would survive.
We would endure.
Two of my guards brought Declan in chains. He was no longer naked, dressed in black jeans and a pale blue tee gifted by a palace guard of a similar size.
He fixed his yellow wolf eyes to me. I expected hate, instead I found a modicum of sympathy, and a lot of confusion.
